JBL L60T - the red headed stepchild?

[LHorn]

@SaturationPt ...OK..good to know.

I agree with #2 also. Why didnt he just use an EL cap on the HF driver as well...its in the same position as the MF and UHF drivers. I would love to hear his reasoning one day.

When I cleaned up my 250's I reluctantly replaced the EL's with film only because I couldnt find the values needed without doing cap bundles...or spend a fortune on caps. For my ears..years of working steel and then machining...I cant tell any difference. I still have the original as they were all still within tolerance anyway.

@wu6fiend ...sorry about the thread derailing...carry on.

 

[John Bartin]

I currently have a pair of JBL L60Ts. I am really happy with these speakers. I bought them from a Boeing engineer who had built his own open baffle speakers. I listened to the L60T's along side the open baffle speakers, and the L60T's were not far off from the custom built open baffles. Maybe its the music I listen to which tends to be classical, jazz, and some rock, but not cranked. I've owned some decent speakers over the years and these are best ones for my tastes. I will say that after hearing all the negative reviews, I wonder if I'm missing something here. I'd love to have some of your preferred speakers along side mine so I can hear the difference. Again, I've heard these against some custom open baffles, and yes, they were better, but it was a fairly close call. Also, i will add that someone before put walnut plugs in the cover holes and did a great job. My wife says the speakers are 'cute' and that goes a long way to me having them in the living room....so that's a plus compared to many of the less pleasing jumbled colors and shapes on many others. Aesthetics count too!

 

[slowpat]

I currently have a pair of JBL L60Ts. I am really happy with these speakers. I bought them from a Boeing engineer who had built his own open baffle speakers. I listened to the L60T's along side the open baffle speakers, and the L60T's were not far off from the custom built open baffles. Maybe its the music I listen to which tends to be classical, jazz, and some rock, but not cranked. I've owned some decent speakers over the years and these are best ones for my tastes. I will say that after hearing all the negative reviews, I wonder if I'm missing something here. I'd love to have some of your preferred speakers along side mine so I can hear the difference. Again, I've heard these against some custom open baffles, and yes, they were better, but it was a fairly close call. Also, i will add that someone before put walnut plugs in the cover holes and did a great job. My wife says the speakers are 'cute' and that goes a long way to me having them in the living room....so that's a plus compared to many of the less pleasing jumbled colors and shapes on many others. Aesthetics count too!

Try comparing to a 3 way speaker, then you will realize how the music opens up. The L60T still has limitation with the 6.5" driver having to cover midrange, and upper base. If you have a chance to try out a 3 way JBL or ADS, that would be a better test.

 

[wu6fiend]

Well, in the end, I was able to sell them after all. $250 Cdn, which equates today to $198 USD. About the going rate, I think. Interestingly enough, as I was unboxing them to set them up to demo them, I discovered they had sequential serial numbers. Also found the original sales receipt, from Feb 1988. I paid $740 Cdn for the pair back then, which according to the inflation calculator is about $1461 Cdn, or $1161 USD now. They were not cheap speakers on a student budget, and there was clearly no way that I could have afforded their big brothers, the L100T, which I lusted for, with their retail price of $525 USD each. Listening to them, they still sounded darn good, to my ears (and obviously the happy buyer's, too)

 

[BMWCCA]

Also found the original sales receipt, from Feb 1988. I paid $740 Cdn for the pair back then, which according to the inflation calculator is about $1461 Cdn, or $1161 USD now. They were not cheap speakers on a student budget, and there was clearly no way that I could have afforded their big brothers, the L100T, which I lusted for, with their retail price of $525 USD each.

Though the L80T might not have been as much of a stretch. I have two-pair of the L80T and no matter how much I try, through modification or restoration, they just can't hold a candle to the very similar L96 I also own.

 

[Fassbinder]

In 1988 I bought an open box set for around $300-$350. Best purchase ever but they sat unused for well over 10 years. The foam surrounds were completely shot. Rebuild kits are very cheap if you've got the time.

Personally I like the two way systems. My high end hearing has never been very good and these crank out more than enough treble for nice listening. I'm always cranking treble controls near the max, no matter what I'm listening with.

I wouldn't have any idea what to replace them with, and that's fine with me.

 

[Doug Irwin]

I have been dragging around a pair of L60 JBL’s since buying them in the mid-80’s. They served me well, but were put in many an attic thru the years. A couple of years ago while moving, again, I dropped one down a flight of stairs. Surprisingly, it doesn’t work. Any thoughts on if it’s repairable?
I’d love to refurb them, lots of memories in those cabinets. Love the comments here, especially about the middle. Now I know what was missing when I cranked Def Leppard “Hysteria” back in the day.
Appreciate any comments relative possible returning these puppies.

Cheers,
Doug

 

[EEP BC CAN]

Hi Doug, can’t help you much on repairs. Is the cabinet wrecked on the one that went down the stairs? I recently bough a used pair but didn’t notice that one of the woofers isn’t original and I’m going to start looking for an original woofer or a single complete speaker. Per the rules of this forum (as I understand it) I’ll try to put a wanted ad in the buy-sell part of this forum in the next week or two in case you are interested in unloading the working one or parting it out. I think any buy sell activity is supposed to happen there. Ernie Payne

 

[Doug Irwin]

Thanks for the reply. Since posting I found a local JBL speaker expert, who said he can probably fix them. Can't wait. Thanks.

 

[JJ_Ack]

I had a pair of L60Ts, and I thought they were great. I don't think they deserve the poor reputation that they have.

Sure, maybe they don't hold up well compared to their legendary siblings, but a pair of L80Ts will set you back around $650 today while the L60T goes for like $150. THEY ARE AN AWESOME BUY FOR $150! The market has over-reacted in my opinion.

I paid $125 for my pair, and they were nearly perfect. I sold them almost by accident. I was selling a pair of New Large Advents, and when the guy came over to demo, I had the L60Ts sitting in the corner. He was curious about the JBLs, so I plugged them in. After hearing the L60Ts next to the Advents, he was no longer interested in the Advents, and gave me $200 for them.

That guy wasn't biased by blogs, he just went by his ear... and the L60T was a winner.

 

[BMWCCA]

As the owner of two-pair with standard modifications to crossovers, ports, and interior, I can say anyone who paid $650 for a pair of L80Ts made a bad investment and probably isn't terribly happy with the sound quality, either. The L96 will simply blow it away, for whatever reason, and an L5 will make you forget the L80T immediately. I'm happy for the L80T to reach that value since among my dozens of JBLs those are the ones I'd likely sell first. I already gave one pair on indefinite loan to a friend.

 

[Macaroonie]

As you will all know the L96 is a straight trickle over from the blue front studio monitor series ( in this case 4313 )
Not really a ' consumer' model. Outstanding speaker IMO.

 

[BMWCCA]

As you will all know the L96 is a straight trickle over from the blue front studio monitor series ( in this case 4313 )
Not really a ' consumer' model. Outstanding speaker IMO.

Yeah but . . . when you compare the L96 driver complement to that of the L80T it makes you wonder why the L80T just isn't even close to that good. They aren't that different and an L80T isn't that far off from a 4410, either. It's been a mystery to me for years.

 

[Macaroonie]

Yeah but . . . when you compare the L96 driver complement to that of the L80T it makes you wonder why the L80T just isn't even close to that good. They aren't that different and an L80T isn't that far off from a 4410, either. It's been a mystery to me for years.

GT voiced them differently. Slightly more emphasis in trhe mids , not much just a hint. Great drivers with impact , good powerful bass driver with deceptively good LF.. Less Hi Fi , a little more 'live'

 

[MajorThom]

I am a huge fan of the 035ti/035tia tweeter, but asking it to reach down to 2500hz is asking a lot. That is what it is crossed over at in the L60T. In the L80T & L100T it's crossed over at 4500hz! The later L3, also a 2-way with the same tweeter and an 8" woofer, is crossed over at 3000hz. Slightly higher, and I do believe it is better, even though it still shares the heritage of being the least popular speaker of it's series.

Another small issue is the L60T being 6ohms, as opposed to 8ohms. Shouldn't be a problem really, but I bet it was a factor in them being less popular when they were new.

According to Consumer Reports’ test of the JBL L60T, this tweeter suffices for the 2,500 hertz crossover point. It’s the woofer that begins to run out of steam. In actuality, this dip in the graph isn’t a significant reason to avoid the L60T. Note the strong bass output on the bottom end. In this test among medium-priced loudspeakers, the L60T and Klipsch KG-4 measured the best.

 

[MajorThom]

According to Consumer Reports’ test of the JBL L60T, this tweeter suffices for the 2,500 hertz crossover point. It’s the woofer that begins to run out of steam. In actuality, this dip in the graph isn’t a significant reason to avoid the L60T. Note the strong bass output on the bottom end. In this test among medium-priced loudspeakers, the L60T and Klipsch KG-4 measured the best.

Re: JBL L60T and Klipsch KG-4 — I meant they were the best among the bass measurements. The Advent Legacy, Allison CD7, and Infinity RS4000 scored the highest for accuracy — “92” — in this test.

 

[BMWCCA]

Thanks, but . . .
Listen with your ears, not your eyes. Have you owned the L60t?
Comparing them to Advents and Klipsch tells me nothing about how they compare to other JBLs.
That's why I've owned JBLs for over 65-years.
Enjoy the music!

 

[MajorThom]

I’m listening to my JBL L60Ts as I write.

 

[BMWCCA]

I’m listening to my JBL L60Ts as I write.

That's what I figured.
Enjoy the music.

 

[Chris Brown]

According to Consumer Reports’ test of the JBL L60T, this tweeter suffices for the 2,500 hertz crossover point. It’s the woofer that begins to run out of steam. In actuality, this dip in the graph isn’t a significant reason to avoid the L60T. Note the strong bass output on the bottom end. In this test among medium-priced loudspeakers, the L60T and Klipsch KG-4 measured the best.

None of my comments were related to the frequency response of the speakers, nor does a dip in the frequency response indicate that one driver or the other is "running out of steam" (I certainly do not see where they say what output power that frequency response graph was measured at).

The issue I was referring to is that the 035ti is a dome tweeter that is almost never crossed over that low (2500Hz). The lower the frequency, the more the voice coil has to move in order to reproduce those frequencies, and that's simply not something that the 035Ti dome tweeter was designed to do well. The 8" woofer isn't really designed to play frequencies that high either. It "works", but:

1. Overall power handing is sacrificed. The 035ti is being pushed to it's limits reproducing so much of the midrange, to the point where there is not much room to push it further without burning up the voice coil.
2. The midrange usually sounds "thin". This is a result of two different drivers both struggling to fill in a midrange gap that neither driver was actually designed to fill.
3. Larger woofers begin to exhibit directivity issues when reproducing frequencies above their ideal range (they begin to project sound forward, instead of evenly around the room).

So as long as you're mostly listening on-axis, at low volume, you should be good to go.